Couponing Week Three

I didn't do very many transactions this past week...had to much other stuff going on...
BUT, I did find some awesomeness! ;-)
Excuse my messy counters...it was one of those days! ;-)
















Albertsons trip-
16 boxes of Totino's Party Pizza's
2 boxes of Totino's Pizza Roll's
1 Yoplait Smoothie
2 Pillsbury Cookie Dough's
2 Supreme Bars
3 boxes of Potatoes
4 Progresso Soup's
Retail: $50 I paid: $17.71
AND I seriously, no joke. Earned 100 box tops! haha
I couldn't believe it when I counted them all! ;-)





















Wal-Mart Trip:
5 boxes of Crest Toothpaste
(not the best deal but I had to use my coupons before they expired...had my first experience where I couldn't let a coupon expire! YIKES! lol )
Retail: $10.32 I paid: $4.32

















Rite Aid Trip:
(This was my best trip for sure all week!)
2 Bayer Advanced
1 Tylenol Precise Heat Patch
Triaminic Multi-Symoptom
Retail: $22.00 I Paid: $3.22 
and earned $3 in up rewards to use on anything on my next trip!


Having troubles finding good coupon trips for this week!
Anyone getting anything good?
If so let me know! ;-)

Courtney

September Birchbox

So I haven't even finished my other reviews on the August Birchbox before I got my other one!

I wasn't even expecting it to come already! haha
So it brightened my day when i saw it in the mail yesterday! ;-)
Here's what I saw when I opened it!
Birchbox





















And once everything was unwrapped from it's pretty packaging

Here are the products!

Pangea Organics Facial Cream

This little bottle literally smells like a spa in a jar.
It feels so soft and fresh.
On a stressful day this would be a great way to end it!

LIV GRN Parfum





















Unfortunetly I do not like this perfume. :-(
Smells like cucumbers at first, then a little like old lady after it's been on for awhile...
nothing wrong with old ladies though! ;-)
It's just not me.
Twirl last month was way better! :-/

Jouer Lip Enhancer
















I already have this in my inbox to buy!
It's that amazing!
See pics below for proof! ;-)

Incoco Nail Polish Applique





















How fun!
These are usually right around $6-8 dollars alone at departments stores.
And my Birchbox was $10. Well, worth it! :-)
I can't wait to try them!

But, okay onto some fun with the lip enhancer.
I put this on after a long morning...of couponing. haha
And was so happy with the results!
It made my lips so cute and shiny and pink but without feeling like I had a ton of lip gloss on!
Here's some quick pics I took.
Love how it makes it look like i have a little bit of lip liner on...but it's just the gloss!

I can't wait to get it in the mail!
But, for now the little mini will have to get used to me carrying it around with me wherever I go! ;-)

We also recieved this cute little friendship bracelet from Birchbox celebrating a year!

Thanks for reading!
Have a fabulous Tuesday!
Courtney

Member these super cute Harvest blocks from last year? 
Oh, my heart is so excited for Fall.
It's my favorite time of the year!
How I love to dress.
The weather.
Decorating! Eek!
Now if only it still wasn't 95 degree's here I'd probly have way more done this year by now...hmm?

what to do this year?

Any ideas?

Some really awesome Burlap has been in a drawer for quite some time...okay.
I'll go get it out now! hehe :-)

I've been getting some serious ideas from this awesome linky party!
Come join us over at  

Craftaholics Anonymous!

Courtney

Yup, she's got Independence!

Well, Allie is full speed ahead on finding her Independence!

More like already found it.*tear

So I can no longer help her into the car.
Buckle her car seat for her.
Help take her potty. (unless, she's in a "mood")
Rarely can I help pick out her snacks.
I can't hold the book and bed time.
Getting dressed is like impossible.
I mean the list can just keep going with what I can and can't help her with now.

And it's been a hard adjustment.

For ME! :-( lol

One day I'm the one in "control". And then next it's out the window. And we're on a totally different schedule.
Well, anyways. I came across this very awesome idea on Pinterest a couple weeks ago. And I thought we'd give it a try and that it could help ease the stress a little.

I'm always feeling like I don't give Allie enough healthy snacks. Mainly laziness on my part. Getting the fruit or veggie out. Washing it. Finding something for it to go in. Cleaning up after the snack.
I know I sound lazy right now.
But, extra energy just doesn't exist right now.
So anyways. When I saw what another mom did. I couldn't help but try the last time I picked up some fresh foods.

It took me about 10 minutes to get it all cleaned. Cut. And packaged into baggies (Allie LOVES baggies) and wrote her name on the front. I made some different than others. So that they didn't look all the same and that she had even more of a variety.

In the first bags I put together I added Celery, baby carrots and tomatoes.
Then put together some grapes in others.






















I L.O.V.E how organized it is! :-)























And how easy it is for Allie to see her name on a baggie with a nice fresh and healthy snack inside!
Love it!

And I have to say.
It's been a huge hit!
Allie is in heaven with it.

 Of course she can open the fridge now. :-/
So she can get them all on her own.
And put them back once she's done!

This trial period has also made me realize I might have an OCD problem? lol
I can't stand our fridge with all of the labels not showing to the front and the same with our pantry...oh I'm even crazier in the pantry! :-/
It drives me bonkers! I can't see what's all in there! And then I tend to re-buy something we've already got!
Stresses me out! haha (mostly kidding...)























Hopefully I'm not the only one? haha
If you're like me.
Let's get together!
I think I might need a sponsor or something so I'm not so insanely obsessive with our food! ;-)
hehe

Anyways, thanks for reading!
Happy Monday!
Courtney

Couponing Week Two

This week was really slow with coupons due to the Holiday...but, here's what I got!

2 bags of M&M's from Rite Aid
Retail- $7 I paid- $2 and earned a $1 towards any item on my next purchase























Vicks from Wal-Mart
Retail- $14 I paid- $3























12 boxes of Vicks Cough Drops from Wal-greens
Retail- $11.00 I paid- .73cents
(I paid .93cents in tax for these. Thought that was kinda funny that I paid more for these items in taxes than what they're worth!)
Oh, and I think we're officially stocked for cold season! ;-)

















And of course the rest of my juices from Wal-Mart which were all free!
Retail- Around $7

Happy Couponing!
Courtney

Some Serious Cuteness

So I have about a whole drawer full of scraps.
This is just a small portion...:-/





















It's a horrible addiction when you sew.
You think. Oh, I'm sure I'll use this again...one day. lol
And before you know it. You're full to the brim with scraps. ha

Well, the other day I finally found out how I can use all these scraps.
Member how I did that Fabric Tutorial here?

Well, I finally got around to another one called the Rosette Flower...SUPER easy.
And way cute!

K, here's what ya need...

*Glue Gun
*Scissors
*Scraps of fabric






















1st:
You're going to get your strip ready.
Doesn't have to be a perfect one.
















2nd:
You're going to fold your strip in half.
I just use my finger nail to run it down edge so it stays a little bit better...
















3rd:
At one end of your strip you'll make a knot...





















4th:
Take the extra fabric from your knot and fold it behind the knot so that the center of the knot is facing up.





















5th:
This is where it can get tricky. But, it's still easy. :-)
See my pinky finger?
The edge of the fabric that's right next it to you're going to grab and twist around and up next to the flower...











































6th:
Just keep tightly twisting the same way over and over again until you get the size of the flower you'd like.
I found it helpful with larger flowers to add a dot of hot glue every once-n-awhile to secure it better.





















7th:
Once you've gotten the size of the flower you want, you'll snip off the remaining fabric and cut a circle from that fabric and glue it to the back of your Rosette so it helps hold it in place.
















I decided to make headbands with the flowers I made.
I also used some Yo-Yo flowers and grabbed some cute embellishments.

And this is what I ended up with...

Adorable huh?
I even like wearing them! haha
And anyone can do this!!!
Took me like an hour to do all 3 of the headbands.
The first one is my favorite. :-)

Happy Friday!
Courtney

Blinc Mascara Review

Let's just say I'm not as thrilled with this product review like I was with the last one.
Even though this mascara is kinda neat.
Would I pay $24 for it?
Eh, no.

Blinc Mascara

The dark purple bottle is what it came packaged in...
And the second pic is what the mascara bottle looks like.

I did give it a try a couple of times just to be sure...
Here's me before with no mascara on.
(I was still not completely ready. Due to the wet hair. So excuse that hot mess...lol)

















And here's me (with dry hair ;-) right before I put the mascara on.

















Here's what the wand looks like...
It was really hard to put on with this little guy here.
After a couple of times playing around with it I finally got it down but still wasn't my favorite






















And here's it right after I put it on.
I didn't like that after I put it on while it was still drying my lashes kept sticking together...
that was more annoying than anything...

BUT, once it dries it's like it doesn't move.
BUT, without feeling really heavy or flaky.
Which is always nice!

Now here's where the neat part comes in!
If you have problems with really bad flakiness, or smudges, you're a "crier" or don't like to feel like you're wearing a lot of make-up. This mascara could be for you! Like I said earlier, once it does dry...it is okay. Just not really that great going on and you really have to work with it.
Me on the other hand likes to have it go on fast (mom here, don't have time to sit for even 5 minutes playing with mascara every day! lol) , and I like my lashes to show off. So maybe that's why I'm not really feelin' it?

Okay, back to the neat part! ;-)
Taking off the mascara!
I know right? I'd figure putting it on would have been more exciting! :-/

So okay, this mascara is made from a co-polymer based formula to create little "tubes" around each one of your lashes. Had to look up what co-polymer was! haha And from what I got from it is that it's basically a water proof silly putty. Or you can think of it as a sealant of some kind. Basically it's water proof and yet, it's flexible.

So to take off the mascara you don't even need an oil based eye make-up remover. All you do is get the lashed wet...

And with your fingers gently pull the "tubes" of mascara off your actual lashes.
You kinda have to be careful here because did pull some actual lashes off at one point! lol
The pics below are not my lashes. They're the "tubes" that have slid off of them











































Kinda crazy and neat huh?

I think this mascara would be awesome on something like a camping trip/ hike. Where you still have make-up on but it's not to heavy and won't sweat off everywhere...but still $24?

Anyways, that's what I think!
Please remember that these are just my opinions and mine alone...
even though I did have a friend try it as well, and she wasn't' a big fan either...

Hope you're all enjoying the beginnings of Fall! I know I sure am excited!! :-)

Courtney